Apprentices rewarded by college

Shrewsbury Colleges Group has held its first Apprenticeship Awards to celebrate the successes of not only those training across a range of sectors, but also the businesses they work with.

At a three course gala dinner and ceremony held at the College’s training restaurant Origins 10 awards were handed out to apprentices, including the Apprentice of the Year Award, as well as an Employer of the Year Award.

A panel of judges chose the winners from over 50 apprentices, judging against criteria including commitment, contribution and success within the role, including the overall apprentice and business of the year winners.

Nathaniel Gibbs, a 35-year-old apprentice with Caterpillar, scooped the overall prize.

Principal James Staniforth said: “We chose Nathaniel because of the outstanding effort he has put into learning and the obvious contribution he was able demonstrate in his work.

"Since joining the Inspection Department at Caterpillar, Nathaniel has gone above and beyond to seek out further opportunities. He has volunteered to give demonstrations to visitors from local schools and colleges. He has also played a leading role in an apprentice project to design and build a vehicle to race in the Much Wenlock Soapbox Derby.

“As a mature apprentice, it is clear that Nathaniel understands the value in his own learning and development and has actively pursued training in addition to the standard Apprenticeship curriculum, such as the National Physics Laboratory (NPL), which in turn is giving confidence to other apprentice colleagues to ask similar questions.

Alwyn Bedford, Inspection Team Leader at Caterpillar, added: “Nathaniel has also taken the time to analyse and refine the Inspection Team’s e-filing system, which has led to improvements for the whole team. Overall he is an enthusiastic, conscientious and committed apprentice whom we are glad to have in our team. He is a deserving winner of this award and has a great future ahead of him in engineering.”

Winner of the Employer of the Year Award was Oswestry based IN2 Access & Control Ltd, which manufacture and supply activation safety products to the automatic door and gate industries.

Mr Staniforth, said: “IN2 Access & Control have recruited eight apprentices over the past four years. Director Mark Buchan is totally committed to monitoring each individual’s progress. He attends all employer reviews and also requests feedback after each assessment visit. 

“Mark works closely with the College and sees the role of the College and the employer as both being key to the development of apprentices. Full time jobs have been offered to seven apprentices as the company sees them as being key to the future of the business.

“Mark is an enthusiastic and committed leader, all staff in the organisation work hard for him. No one wants to let him down. In turn, they are rewarded for their dedication."